Orlando, Florida - I went to boot-camp here. This is also where I completed 2 of 3 Navy schools needed to become a nuclear propulsion plant operator.
	Idaho Falls, Idaho - Yes! Parting the sands, out in the Arco dessert, aboard S5G prototype. This was a six month excursion at my final school, Nuclear Power Training Unit (NPTU for short).

	USS California is a nuclear-powered, guided missile cruiser.  Photo on left, not taken by me
	Diego Garcia (B.I.O.T. - British Indian Ocean Territory) - Ahhh, two weeks on a tropical island! Beautiful sands, blue lagoon, lots of vegetation. I was dropped off here until a schedule could be made for a personnel drop with my ship. The Navy leases a small tip of the island. This place is about 2000 miles from any mainland and almost on the equator.
	Hong Kong - I have a neat picture of pressed duck…I'm looking for it.
	Seward, AK - A little 3x8 block one-horse town with about five bars. It didn't get dark until about 11:30 at night. This town sits near the edge of huge ice shelf. I had to be on the ship a lot and missed the opportunity to go for a hike on the ice shelf. Bummer. The photo on the left was taken off the Aleutian Chain.
	Can't forget about Hawaii - This is always a stop for any ship touring the Pacific.
	Bremerton, WA - Came here for a refueling overhaul. It is amazing how long a reactor core lasts on a ship. Basically, the limiting component for staying out at sea (without support) is food for personnel.  Did anybody hear of "Galloping Gerty"? A high spanning bridge constructed over the Tacoma Narrows waterway. It tore itself apart a log time ago from the violent winds that plague that area. There is a cool video of its destruction available at the highlighed name.

 

	Back to Idaho Falls, Idaho, to instruct at the A1W Prototype. To me, coming back to become an instructor in the nuke field was like becoming a "Top Gun" instructor.
	I had a great time being a member of the Eagle Rock Amateur Radio Club. The yearly Field Day site was a great place to operate. It was on the top of Pine Creek Pass, near Swan Valley, close to the Idaho/Wyoming boarder.
	The Arco Desert and the Idaho Nat'l Engineering Laboratory
	EBR-1 - Experimental Breeder Reactor Number 1 - The first nuclear plant to ever power a city (Atomic City -> News clip). Now a museum attraction, open to the public from Memorial Day to Labor Day.